Systems and methods for using a mobile gateway in a low power wide area network

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for effectuating communication in a low power wide area network using a mobile data-handling device are disclosed. A method may comprise moving a mobile data-handling device to a first position that is within communication range of an end node of a low power wide area network. The mobile data-handling device may receive a data packet from the end node and may move to a second position at which the mobile data-handling device connects to a data-receiving device. The mobile data-handling device may transmit, via the data-receiving device, the data packet to a computing system for further processing.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/689,798, filed Aug. 29, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,383,060, issuedAug. 13, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

In the Internet of Things (IoT) model, a wide variety of objects may beequipped with embedded electronics (e.g., processor, memory, sensor,actuator, network interface, etc.) that enable these objects to collectand exchange data across a communication network, which often includes,at least in part, a wireless communication network. For example, ahome's gas meter may be configured with electronics to collect and storethe quantity of gas provided to the home and to later transmit that datato the gas company's central server. As another example, sensor(s)positioned in a lawn may be configured to collect and store informationrepresenting the amount of water applied to the lawn and/or informationon the nutrient content of the lawn's soil. This information relating tothe lawn may be wirelessly transmitted to an upstream server forevaluation and monitoring. In many cases, the embedded electronics areunconnected to an external power source and must be powered by battery.

As one measure to conserve power, low power wide area networks (LPWAN)have been implemented. In an LPWAN, the electronics embedded in objects(referred to as “end nodes” or “sensors”) transmit and receive datatypically only at various intervals determined by the end node, asopposed to continuously being in a mode to transmit and receive data,which consumes power. The end nodes may communicate, via wireless radiotransmission, with one or more gateways. The gateway(s) may then relaythe data further upstream over a fixed backhaul network. However,situations may arise in which the end node is not within range of anygateways. For example, the aforementioned gas meter may be located at arural location that is outside the range of any gateways. Further, thelow concentration of end nodes at that rural location may make itundesirable to implement one or more gateways that cover the location.

These and other shortcomings are addressed in the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are disclosed for effectuating communication in alow power wide area network using a mobile data-handling device. Amethod may comprise moving a mobile data-handling device to a firstposition that is within communication range of an end node of a lowpower wide area network. The mobile data-handling device may receive adata packet from the end node while the mobile gateway is at the firstposition. The mobile data-handling device may move to a second positionat which the mobile data-handling device is able to communicatedata-receiving device associated with the low power wide area network.The mobile data-handling device may be caused to connect, at the secondposition, to the data-receiving device. The mobile data-handling devicemay transmit the data packet to the data-receiving device. A firstacknowledgment may have been transmitted by the mobile data-handlingdevice and to the end node in response to the mobile data-handlingdevice receiving the data packet from the end node. The firstacknowledgement may be a MAC layer acknowledgement and may indicate thatthe data packet was received by the mobile data-handling device. Asecond acknowledgement may be been received from the data-receivingdevice and by the mobile data-handling device that indicates that thedata packet was received, via the data-receiving device, by a computingdevice associated with the low power wide area network. The secondacknowledgement may be an application layer acknowledgement. The secondacknowledgement may be transmitted to the end node by the mobiledata-handling device.

A method may comprise transmitting schedule information to an end nodeof a low power wide area network. The schedule information may beindicative of a time period for a mobile data-handling device to bewithin communication range of the end node. The mobile data-handlingdevice may move to a first position that is within communication rangeof the end node. The mobile data-handling device may transmit, duringthe time period indicated in the schedule information, a message to theend node. The message may indicate that the mobile data-handling deviceis within communication range of the end node. The mobile data-handlingdevice may receive a data packet from the end node. The mobiledata-handling device may transmit the data packet to a computing deviceassociated with the low power wide area network.

A method may comprise identifying a mobile data-handling device by anend node of a low power wide area network. The mobile data-handlingdevice may be in communication range of the end node. The end node mayreceive a notification that a data-handling device other than the mobiledata-handling device is within communication range of the end node.Responsive to receiving the notification that a data-handling deviceother than the mobile data-handling device is within communication rangeof the end node, the end node may cause to adjust an operationalparameter of the mobile data-handling device or the end node. The endnode may transmit a data packet to the mobile data-handling device. Theend node may receive an acknowledgment from the mobile data-handlingdevice that indicates that the mobile data-handling device received thedata packet. The acknowledgment may be received according to at leastthe adjusted operational parameter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments and together with thedescription, serve to explain the principles of the methods and systems:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example system according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example system according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3A illustrates a flow chart of an example method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3B illustrates a flow chart of an example method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a temporal data flow diagram according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of an example method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of an example method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example computing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The systems and methods of the present disclosure relate tocommunications in a low power wide area network (LPWAN) that areeffectuated using a mobile gateway. In a low power wide area network,one or more end nodes may sense or collect data which ultimately needsto be communicated to one or more application servers for use of thatdata. In some cases, the end nodes may be located within communicationrange (e.g., radio transmission range) of one or more fixed gatewayswith a generally persistent connection to a backhaul network of theLPWAN. Thus, those nearby end nodes may transmit their collected data tothe one or more fixed gateways, which may then relay the data toupstream components of the LPWAN, such as a radio controller and the oneor more application servers. Yet, some end nodes may be located remotelyfrom any fixed gateways. To gather the data from those remote end nodesand communicate the data to the upstream components of the LPWAN, amobile gateway may be leveraged.

One way that a mobile gateway may be used to effectuate communicationwith those remote end nodes is for the mobile gateway to move or bemoved to within communication range of a remote end node. For example,the mobile gateway may be attached to or incorporated with a groundvehicle or an aerial vehicle. Once within communication range of the endnode, the mobile gateway may transmit a beacon message to the end nodeto indicate that the mobile gateway is within communication range of theend node. Responsive to receiving the beacon message, the end node maytransmit its collected data, or portion thereof, to the mobile gateway.As another example for effectuating transmittal of an end node'scollected data to the mobile gateway, the end node may unilaterallytransmit the collected data at pseudo-random time periods.

If the mobile gateway is within communication range of the end node, themobile gateway may receive the transmitted data from the end node. Ineither case, the mobile gateway may in turn transmit an acknowledgement(e.g., a MAC layer acknowledgement) to the end node to indicate that thedata was successfully received by the mobile gateway. When the dataexchange is complete, the mobile gateway may move to a position at whichit may connect to the backhaul network of the LPWAN. This may involvemoving within communication range of a cellular base station or Wi-Fiaccess point comprising part of the backhaul network, for example. Themobile gateway may transmit, via the backhaul network, the data from theend node to a radio controller of the LPWAN. The radio controller maythen transmit the data to one or more application servers for processingand use thereby. For example, the application server may present theprocessed data in a webpage. The application server may initiate anapplication layer acknowledgement indicating that the data was receivedby the application server. This application layer acknowledgement may betransmitted back to the mobile gateway via the radio controller and/orother intermediaries. In turn the mobile gateway may transmit theapplication layer acknowledgement to the end node when the mobilegateway is next in communication with the end node.

FIG. 1 illustrates various aspects of an exemplary system 100 in whichthe present methods and systems may operate. One skilled in the art willappreciate that provided herein is a functional description and that therespective functions may be performed by software, hardware, or acombination of software and hardware. The system 100 generally describesa low power wide area network (LPWAN) in which one or more end nodes 110a-e communicate with one or more application servers 108 a-b via a radiocontroller 106 and a mobile data-handling device (e.g., a mobile gateway102) and/or fixed data-handling devices (e.g., fixed gateways 104 a-b).For example, an LPWAN network may be implemented according to theLoRaWAN specification.

The end nodes 110 a-e (which will be referred to in non-specificcontexts as end node 110) collect and exchange data according to variousfunctions. For example, an end node 110 may be located in a field ofcrops to monitor and report the amount of rainfall occurring in thefield over a period of time. As another example, an end node 110 may beembedded in a street-corner garbage receptacle to monitor and report thelevel of garbage in the receptacle. As yet another example, an end node110 may be incorporated into a tracking collar attached to a wild animalfor purposes of tracking the animal or monitoring some biological aspectof the animal, such as its temperature or heart rate. Uses of an endnode 110 are not limited to collecting and transmitting data, but mayalso include performing some useful operation or action. For example, anend node 110 may be incorporated in a lighting device and, upon receiptof a command, may turn the lighting device on or off. As is clear fromthe above examples, the end nodes 110 may be used in a wide variety ofcontexts, including building and home automation, transportation,agriculture, retail, industry, supply chain management, manufacturing,healthcare, public utilities, and scientific research.

To facilitate such functions, the end nodes 110 each may be embodied asa computing device. As such, the end nodes 110 may each comprise aprocessor and a memory. The memory may store instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, effectuate various operations describedherein. The memory may additionally store data collected by the endnodes 110 which is later transmitted to other components of the system100. The end nodes 110 each may further comprise a sensor to gather anyof various forms of data depending upon the particular application ofthe end node 110. As some examples according to the above-describedexemplary functions of the end nodes 110, the sensor may comprise a rainor moisture sensor, a level sensor, a location sensor (e.g., a GPSsensor), or a biometric sensor. The end node 110 additionally maycomprise an actuator to implement some action, such as turning on theaforementioned lighting device.

The end node 110 may be further configured with a communicationinterface, such as a radio transceiver, to transmit and receive data.For example, the communication interface may be configured to wirelesslycommunicate with the mobile gateway 102 and/or the fixed gateways 104a-b. A power source, such as a battery or a solar cell, may providepower to the end node 110. It will be appreciated that the end node 110may be integrated with or incorporated into another device or objectand, as such, may share some or all components with that device orobject.

As indicated, the system 100 may comprise a radio controller 106. Theradio controller 106 may be embodied as one or more interconnectedcomputing devices, such as servers and/or networking devices. As will bediscussed further herein, the radio controller 106 may serve tofacilitate and coordinate communication between the end nodes 110 andthe application servers 108 a-c. For example, the interaction betweenthe gateways (e.g., the mobile gateway 102 and/or the fixed gateways104) and the end nodes 110 may be coordinated by the radio controller106. As such, the radio controller 106 may provide intelligence relatingto data packets transmitted between the end nodes 110 and the gateways,including, as some examples, scheduling acknowledgments, performingsecurity and data integrity functions, and managing data transmissionrates between the end nodes 110 and gateways.

The system 100 may further comprise one or more application servers 108a-c (which will be referred to in non-specific contexts as applicationservers 108). The application servers 108 each may be embodied as one ormore interconnected computing devices, such as servers or networkingdevices. The application servers 108 may receive and/or collect datafrom the end nodes 110. The application servers 108 may interact withthe end nodes 110 (via the radio controller 106 and the fixed gateways104 and/or mobile gateways 102) and perform a function relating to thatinteraction with the end nodes 110. As will be appreciated due to thewide variety of potential types and functions of the end nodes 110, theoperations performed by the application servers 108 are equally broad.As one example, the application servers 108 may receive data collectedby the end nodes 110, process that data, store that data, and/ortransmit or present the processed date in some form. For instance, ifthe aforementioned exemplary end node 110 is configured to be attachedto a wild animal and collect movement positions of that animal, theapplications servers 108 may receive data representing those movementpositions, analyze that data, and provide a webpage showing the movementpositions overlaid on a map. As another example, if the end node 110 isconfigured to record a home gas meter's reading, the applicationsservers 108 may receive and process those readings and then email anelectronic billing statement to the home's resident.

The system 100 may further comprise data-handling devices, such asgateways, that, may facilitate communication between the end nodes 110and upstream components, such as the radio controller 106 andapplication servers 108. For example, the system 100 may comprise one ormore mobile gateways 102 and one or more fixed gateways 104 a-b (whichwill be referred to in non-specific contexts as fixed gateways 104). Asthe name implies, the mobile gateway 102 may be movable. For example,the mobile gateway 102 may be mounted on a ground vehicle or an aerialvehicle, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In contrast, thefixed gateways 104 may be stationary and may not move.

As used herein, “upstream” generally refers to the data flow directionstarting at the end nodes 110 and leading to the application servers 108(i.e., left to right in FIG. 1). Depending on context, an “upstream”descriptive modifier may also refer to the components of the system 100that correspond to this upstream direction of data flow. That is, theapplication servers 108 are upstream of the radio controller 106, theradio controller 106 is upstream of the gateways 102, 104, and thegateways 102, 104 are upstream of the end nodes 110. Conversely,“downstream” refers to the dataflow direction (or a correspondingdescriptive modifier of a component), starting at the applicationsservers 108 and leading to the end nodes 110 (i.e., right to left inFIG. 1).

The data-handling devices (e.g., the gateway 102 and the fixed gateways104) may each be embodied as computing devices. Accordingly, the mobilegateway 102 and the fixed gateways 104 may each be configured with aprocessor and memory. The memory may store instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, effectuate various operations describedherein. The memory may additionally store data received from the endnodes 110 and/or the radio controller 106. The mobile gateways 102 andfixed gateways 104 each may further comprise one or more communicationinterfaces, such as a radio transceiver to communication wirelessly viaradio frequency with one or more end nodes 110 and/or to communicatewith the radio controller 106. The communication interface mayadditionally comprise an interface for communicating over a wirednetwork, such as an Ethernet or fiber-optic interface. Such an interfacemay be used to communicate with the radio controller 106, for example.

The mobile gateway 102 and fixed gateways 104 may communicate with theradio controller 106 over a backhaul network 112. The backhaul network112 may be configured as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), the Internet, and the like. Further, the backhaul network 112 maycomprise a wireless and/or a wired network. As an example of a wirelessnetwork, the backhaul network 112 may comprise a cellular network, suchas a 3G (third generation) or LTE (Long Term Evolution) cellularnetwork. As other examples, the backhaul network 112 may comprise asatellite network or a Wi-Fi network. As examples of a wired network,the backhaul network 112 may comprise an Ethernet network, a coaxialcable network, or a fiber optic network.

Since the mobile gateway 102 may be movable, the mobile gateway's 102connection to the radio controller 106 via the backhaul network 112 maybe intermittent (as indicated by the dashed line connecting the mobilegateway 102 and the radio controller 106 in FIG. 1). For example, themobile gateway 102 may move out of the range of a radio transceiver(e.g., a cellular network base station) of the backhaul network 112 andthus, at least temporarily, fall out of communication with the backhaulnetwork 112. When the mobile gateway 102 moves back into range of theradio transceiver, the mobile gateway 102 may re-establish communicationwith the backhaul network 112 and thereby exchange data with the radiocontroller 106 and/or application servers 108. As another example, themobile gateway 102 may connect to the backhaul network 112 via a wiredconnection. When the mobile gateway 102 is moved, such as to connectwith and exchange data with one or more end nodes 110, the wiredconnection of the mobile gateway 102 to the backhaul network 112 may bedisconnected. The wired connection of the mobile gateway 102 to thebackhaul network 112 may be later reconnected. For instance, the wiredconnection may be reconnected after the mobile gateway 102 has exchangeddata with one or more end nodes 110 and returned to a home base withsaid wired connection.

Connection to the backhaul network 112 may be effectuated via a computerand/or network device (i.e., a data-receiving device, not shown in FIG.1). For example, the device via which the mobile gateway 102 and/or thefixed gateways 104 may wirelessly connect to the backhaul network 112may comprise a station. A station may comprise a wireless access point,such as that used with a Wi-Fi network or other wireless networks usingthe IEEE 802.11 standard, or other type of wireless network. A stationmay comprise a cellular base station, such as that used to connectcellular telephones or other cellular-equipped devices to a cellularnetwork. Additionally or alternatively, the device via which the mobilegateway 102 and/or the fixed gateways 104 may connect to the backhaulnetwork 112 may comprise a wired network interface, such as an Ethernetinterface.

As already noted, the mobile gateway 102 and fixed gateways 104 mayfacilitate communication between one of more of the end nodes 110 andthe radio controller 106. A given end node 110 may be in range of—andtherefore communicative with—one or more (or none, in some instances)gateways. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the end node 110 e isin communication with the fixed gateway 104 b, the end node 110 d is incommunication with the fixed gateway 104 b and the fixed gateway 104 a,the end node 110 c is in communication with the fixed gateway 104 a, andthe end node 110 b is in communication with the fixed gateway 104 a.Further, because the mobile gateway 102 is mobile and not at a fixedlocation, the end node 110 b may be only in intermittent communicationwith the mobile gateway 102 (as indicated by the dashed line connectingthe two in FIG. 1). Finally, the end node 110 a may be only inintermittent communication with the mobile gateway 102 (as alsoindicated by the dashed connecting line in FIG. 1).

The end nodes 110 and the gateways (e.g., the mobile gateway 102 and/orthe fixed gateways 104) may communicate using one or more modulationstechniques. For example, the end nodes 110 and gateways may communicateusing frequency-shift keying (FSK) modulation. As another example, theend nodes 110 and the gateways may communicate using a spread spectrummodulation technique, such as chirp spread spectrum modulation. Further,an adaptive data rate (ADR) scheme may be employed in the communicationbetween the end nodes 110 and the gateways. For example, the data rateused in a particular communication between one of the end nodes 110 andone of the gateways may be a function of the duration of thecommunication required and the signal strength between the end node 110and the gateway.

The fixed gateways 104 may facilitate communication between the endnodes 110 (e.g., the end nodes 110 b, 110 c, 110 d, and/or 110 e) andthe application servers 108 as follows. An end node 110 may initiate anuplink communication with one or more fixed gateways 104. The uplinkcommunication may be event driven, such as if the end node 110 sensed aparticular event or received a particular input, or may be according toa schedule determined by the end node 110. The schedule may comprise arandom component. For example, the schedule may indicate that the uplinkcommunication is to be sent at a pre-determined time plus a smallrandomly-determined time offset. To initiate uplink communication withone or more fixed gateways 104, the end node 110 may send a uplinkmessage packet to one or more fixed gateways 104. The uplink messagepacket may comprise a payload, which may comprise the data intended tobe transmitted to one or more application servers 108. The uplinkmessage packet may further comprise a preamble and/or header, which maycomprise metadata describing various aspects of the uplink messagepacket and/or the payload.

After the one or more end nodes 110 transmit an uplink message packet,each end node 110 may open one or more successive receive windows duringwhich a downlink message packet may be received by the end node 110. Forexample, a first receive window may be a one second time interval fromthe time that the uplink message packet was transmitted and a secondreceive window may be a two second time interval starting from the endof the first receive window.

The one or more fixed gateways 104 may receive the uplink message packetand relay the uplink message packet over the backhaul network 112 to theradio controller 106. The radio controller 106 may receive the uplinkmessage packets and perform various operations to coordinate and processthe uplink message packets. For example, the radio controller 106 maydetermine if redundant uplink message packets were received (since morethan one fixed gateway 104 may receive and relay the uplink messagepacket). As another example, the radio controller 106 may verify theintegrity and security of the payload, such as via a CRC (cyclicredundancy check) code included in the uplink message packet. Inaddition, the radio controller 106 may schedule an acknowledgement to besent back to the end node 110. The acknowledgement may be a MAC layeracknowledgement. As such, the radio controller 106 may select one of thefixed gateways 104 (or mobile gateway 102, as described in greaterdetail herein) that relayed the uplink message packet to thereby relay adownlink message packet to the end node in response to the uplinkmessage packet. Thus, while the uplink message packet may be relayed bymultiple gateways, the downlink message packet may instead be relayed tothe end node 110 by only a single gateway.

Similar to the uplink message packet, the downlink message packet maycomprise a preamble, a header, and a payload. The payload may containdata intended to be delivered to the end node 110. The header maydescribe various aspects of the downlink message packet and/or thepayload. The downlink message packet may further comprise anacknowledgement to a previously received uplink message packet. Theacknowledgement may be a MAC layer acknowledgement, which may indicatethat the uplink message packet from the end node 110 was successfullyreceived by the gateway 104 and/or the radio controller 106. Theacknowledgement (and/or another coterminous acknowledgement) may be anapplication layer acknowledgement, which may indicate that an uplinkmessage packet, or portion thereof, was successfully received by one ormore of the application servers 108. For example, the application layeracknowledgement may be with respect to a previous uplink message packetfrom the end node 110, including an immediately previous uplink messagepacket from the end node. It will be noted that the downlink messagepacket may comprise an acknowledgement without a payload. That is, thedownlink message packet may serve as an acknowledgement to an uplinkmessage packet without including any substantive data.

With the uplink message packet having been received by the radiocontroller 106, the radio controller 106 may transmit the uplink messagepacket and/or the data contained in the payload of the uplink messagepacket to one or more application servers 108. The application servers108 may use the data for various purposes according to the particularfunction being implemented.

If appropriate for the particular function implemented by the end nodes110 and application servers 108 (e.g., the function requiresbi-directional communication between the end nodes 110 and theapplication servers 108), the application servers 108 may transmit datato the radio controller 106 for ultimate delivery to one or more of theend nodes 110. The data may be in the form of a downlink message packetor other form. As already noted, the downlink message packet from theapplication server 108 may comprise an application layer acknowledgementindicating that the application server 108 successfully received theuplink message packet, or portions thereof, from the end node 110. Theradio controller 106 may receive the data and, if necessary, format itas a downlink message packet including the data as a payload. The radiocontroller 106 may hold the downlink message packet until an uplinkmessage packet is received from the destination end node 110, whichindicates that the end node 110 has opened one or more receive windows.

The downlink message packet need not be held by the radio controller 106and instead may be transmitted downstream upon receipt by the radiocontroller 106. As another example, a periodic beacon may be transmittedby the fixed gateways 104 and received by the end node 110. The periodicbeacon may indicate if a downlink message packet is being held by theradio controller 106. Based on the periodic beacon, the end node 110 mayextend its receive window and listen for the downlink message packetsent from the radio controller 106 via the fixed gateways 104.

The radio controller 106 may select one of the fixed gateways 104 (ormobile gateways 102, as described in greater detail herein) and transmitthe downlink message packet to the selected fixed gateway 104 withinstructions for the fixed gateway 104 to further transmit the downlinkmessage packet to the destination end node 110. The selection of thefixed gateway 104 may be based on the downlink capacity of the fixedgateways 104, for example. The fixed gateway 104 may receive thedownlink message packet and transmit it to the end node 110, preferablywithin one of the end node's 110 receive windows.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary system 200 at least partially representing aportion of the system 100 of FIG. 1. The system 200 may demonstrate anarrangement in which a mobile gateway may move to enable communicationsbetween an end node and a back haul network. Here, a station 220(representative of any data-receiving device) may effectuatecommunication via a backhaul network (e.g., the backhaul network 112 ofFIG. 1). In particular, the station 220 may enable communications of thegateways 102, 104 of FIG. 1 over the backhaul network. The station 220may be a component of the backhaul network or may be a separateintermediary to the backhaul network. The station 220 may comprise awireless base station, such as a wireless access point. A wirelessaccess point may communicate via Wi-Fi or other IEEE 802.11 standard.The station 220 may comprise a cellular network base station forcommunication via a cellular protocol, such as that used in a wirelesstelephony network to service communications between mobile phones andthe like. Although not expressly depicted in FIG. 2, the station 220 orthe like may comprise a device having a wired network interface, such asan Ethernet interface.

The system 200 may comprise a representative end node 210, which may besimilar in some aspects to the endpoints 110 of FIG. 1. The station 220may have a communication range of 222 within which the station 220 maywirelessly communicate with other devices. The end node 210 also mayhave a communication range 224 within with the end node 210 maywirelessly communicate with other devices. It is noted that thecommunication ranges 222 and 224 may not be to scale in therepresentations in FIG. 2. The system 200 may comprise a mobile gateway202, which may be similar in some aspects with the mobile gateway 102 ofFIG. 1. The mobile gateway 202 is shown at several positions as themobile gateway 202 may move over time. Such movement is indicated bybidirectional arrows in FIG. 2.

At one position 230, the mobile gateway 202 is within the communicationrange 222 of the station 220. For clarity of illustration, thecommunication range of the mobile gateway 202 is not shown. It isassumed, again only for the purpose of illustration, that the mobilegateway 202 has sufficient communication range to reciprocatecommunication with the station 220 and the end node 210, as the case maybe. At the position 230, the mobile gateway 202 may communicate, via awireless communication channel 226, with the station 220. By virtue ofthe communication with the station 220, the mobile gateway 202 furthermay communicate over the backhaul network and other upstream components,such as a radio controller (e.g., the radio controller 106 of FIG. 1)and application servers (e.g., the application servers 108 of FIG. 1).At the position 230, the mobile gateway 202 may transmit any uplinkmessage packets received from the end node 210 and/or receive anydownlink message packets from the controller and/or the applicationservers. The uplink message packets may comprise data collected by theend node 210, for example. The downlink message packet may comprise datafrom one or more application servers 108, MAC layer acknowledgements,and/or application layer acknowledgements derived from the one or moreapplication servers. 108

The mobile gateway 202 may move to a position 232, which is out ofcommunication range of both the station 220 and the end node 210. Thus,the mobile gateway 202 may not communicate with either of the two. Theposition 232 may be along a direct route to the communication range 224of the end node 210. Or the position 232 may be located along anindirect route, such as a route along which the mobile gateway 202communicates with other end nodes. If the mobile gateway 202 has uplinkmessage packets, for example, the mobile gateway may move back to theposition 230 to enable communication with the station 220 and relay theuplink message packets and/or receive downlink message packets. Even ifthe mobile gateway 202 does not have uplink message packets to relay, itmay still be advantageous for the mobile gateway 202 to move to theposition 230 and communicate with the station 220 to potentially receiveany downlink message packets to relay to the end node 210.

By way of the position 232 (or other position), the mobile gateway 202may move to a position 234, which is within the communication range 224of the end node 210. At the position 232, the mobile gateway 202 maycommunicate, via a wireless communication channel 228, with the end node210, such as receiving uplink message packets from the end node 210. Theuplink message packet may comprise data collected by the end node 210,for example. The mobile gateway 202 may communicate downlink messagepackets to the end node 210, which may comprise a MAC layeracknowledgement that is responsive to receiving an uplink message packetfrom the end node 210. Additionally or alternatively, the mobile gateway202 may transmit an application layer acknowledgement to the end node210 that indicates that the application servers received a respectiveuplink message packet, or portion thereof (e.g., payload data), from theend node 210, such as one that was previously transmitted by the endnode 210. A downlink message packet may comprise a data payload, such asfrom the one or more application servers 108.

After exchanging data (e.g., uplink and downlink message packets) withthe end node 210, the mobile gateway 202 may move back to thecommunication range 222 of the station 220. This may occur immediatelyor at a later time, such as if the mobile gateway 202 first moved toother end nodes to exchange data with those end nodes before movingtowards the communication range 222 of the station 220. The movementback to the communication range 222 of the station 220 may be via theposition 232 or other route. Whichever the case, it is contemplated thatthe mobile gateway 202 may move through a region that is not with thecommunication range 222 of the station 220. At the position 230 orotherwise within the communication range 222 of the station 220 again,the mobile gateway 202 may transmit uplink message packets that itreceived, such as from the end node 210 or other end nodes. The mobilegateway 202 likewise may receive downlink message packets from thestation 220. The downlink message packets may comprise payload dataand/or application layer acknowledgements derived from the applicationservers. The downlink message packets, the application layeracknowledgement particularly, may be responsive to a previous uplinkmessage packet derived from the end node 210 or the uplink messagepacket from the end node 210 that was contemporaneously relayed by themobile gateway 202 and station 220 to the application servers.

Thereafter, the mobile gateway 202 may move back, such as via theintermediate position 232, to the communication range 224 of the endnode 210. The mobile gateway 202 may transmit the application layeracknowledgement, which is responsive to the end node's 210 previousuplink message packet, to the end node 210. Thus, the end node 210 may“know” that the end node's 210 previous uplink message packet wassuccessfully received by the application servers.

The particular positioning, movements, and ordering of these movementsis not intended to be limiting or indicative of a preferred embodiment.Instead, the system 200 and aspects represented by the system 200 areprovided for purposes of illustration.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example method 300 by which data from one or moreend nodes (e.g., the end nodes 110 of FIG. 1) may be transmitted via amobile gateway (e.g., the mobile gateway 102 of FIG. 1). At step 302,data may be received or accessed. For example, one of the end nodes mayreceive or access data that is intended to be transmitted upstream, suchas to one or more of the application servers (e.g., the applicationservers 108 of FIG. 1). As indicated above, the data received oraccessed by the end node may comprise any of a variety of types of data,such as a gas meter reading or positions of an animal. The end node maybe one (such as the end node 110 a of FIG. 1) that is remotely locatedand not in communication range of one of the fixed gateways (e.g., thefixed gateways 104 of FIG. 1). Thus, the end node is unable to transmitthe data upstream via one of the fixed gateways 104 and instead may relyon the mobile gateway for communication with upstream components.

At step 304, the mobile gateway may be disposed or be caused to bedisposed at a position at which the mobile gateway may receive the datacollected in step 302. For example, the mobile gateway may be initiallydisposed at a position at which the mobile gateway is incapable ofreceiving the collected data (e.g., out of communication range of theend node). The mobile gateway may be later disposed at a position atwhich the mobile gateway may receive the collected data (e.g., withincommunication range of the end node).

This may entail, for example, the mobile gateway moving withincommunication range of the end node. The communication range of the endnode may be defined by the radio transmission range and/or power of aradio transceiver of the end node. For example, the radio transceiver ofthe end node may operate at maximum power in the range of 18 dBm to 28dBm.

As the anticipated communication between the end node and the mobilegateway may be bidirectional, the position of the mobile gateway atwhich it may communicate with the end node may be additionally oralternatively defined by the radio transmission range and/or power of aradio transceiver of the mobile gateway. For example, the radiotransceiver of the mobile gateway may operate at maximum power in therange of 18 dBm to 28 dBm.

By being within range of one another, the end node and the mobilegateway may be capable of effectuating communication with one another.For example, the end node and the mobile gateway may be capable ofexchanging radio signal transmissions. As one illustrative example, themobile gateway may be affixed to or incorporated with a vehicle, such asa car or truck, and the vehicle may be driven so that the mobile gatewayis within communication range of the end node. As another illustrativeexample, the mobile gateway may be affixed to or incorporated with anaerial vehicle, such as a UAV, and the aerial vehicle may fly to aposition such that the mobile gateway is within communication range ofthe end node.

At step 306, data may be transmitted to the mobile gateway, such as thedata collected or otherwise received or accessed in step 302. Forexample, the end node may transmit the data to the mobile gateway. Thedata transmitted to the mobile gateway may be in the form of an uplinkmessage packet. The uplink message packet may comprise a payload withthe data collected by the end node. The uplink message packet mayfurther comprise a preamble and/or header with metadata describing theuplink message packet and/or the payload. The mobile gateway may receivethe data (e.g., the uplink message packet) and store the data for latertransmission to upstream components. After transmitting the data to themobile gateway, the end node may open one or more receive windows duringwhich the end node 110 is operable to receive a return transmission fromthe mobile gateway, such as a MAC layer acknowledgement that the datawas successfully received by the mobile gateway.

Responsive to receiving the data from the end node, the mobile gatewaymay transmit a downlink message packet to the end node. The downlinkmessage packet may preferably be transmitted to the end node during theend node's one or more receive windows. Similar to the uplink messagepacket, the downlink message packet may comprise a payload with dataand/or a preamble with metadata describing the downlink message packetand/or the payload. The data of the payload may comprise data from anupstream component, such as a radio controller (e.g., the radiocontroller 106 of FIG. 1) and/or the application servers, that waspreviously received by the mobile gateway and stored until incommunication with the end node.

The downlink message packet may additionally or alternatively compriseone or more acknowledgments. The acknowledgement may be an applicationlevel acknowledgement or a MAC layer acknowledgement. The MAC layeracknowledgement may serve to communicate to the end node that the data(e.g., the uplink message packet) from the end node was received by themobile gateway. The application level acknowledgement may indicate thatthe application server successfully received data from the end node. Forexample, the application layer acknowledgement may be with respect todata that the end node transmitted to the mobile gateway during aprevious communication with the mobile gateway and which the mobilegateway relayed upstream to the application server. The previouscommunication may be a communication that occurred during a previousinstance in which the mobile gateway was in reciprocal communicationwith the end node.

Responsive to the end node receiving the acknowledgement(s) from themobile gateway, the end node may, for example, proceed to send anadditional data transmission (e.g., another uplink message packet) tothe mobile gateway. This additional data transmission may itselfcomprise an acknowledgement to communicate to the mobile gateway thatthe downlink message packet previously sent by the mobile gateway wasreceived by the end node. Thus, further communications and/or dataexchanges between the mobile gateway and the end node may be likewiseperformed.

When the communication and/or data exchange between the end node and themobile gateway is complete, the mobile gateway may move or be moved to aposition or location at which it may connect to the backhaul network,which may be connected to the radio controller. This may comprise movingfrom a position in which the mobile gateway was in communication rangewith the end node to another position in which the mobile gateway is nolonger in communication range with the end node. This may additionallyor alternatively comprise moving from a position at which the mobilegateway is not able to connect to the backhaul network to anotherposition at which the mobile gateway is able to connect to the backhaulnetwork.

It will be recalled that the connection to and/or communication via thebackhaul network may be effectuated by a data-receiving device, such asa wireless access point, a cellular network base station, or other typeof station or similar implementation. The data-receiving device may formpart of the backhaul network or may be an intermediary to the backhaulnetwork without being part of the backhaul network. For example, themobile gateway may move within communication range of a cellular networkbase station of the backhaul network or otherwise associated with thebackhaul network. As another example, the mobile gateway may move to aposition at which a wired connection, such as an Ethernet connection,may be established between the mobile gateway and the backhaul network.FIG. 2 illustrates one example use case relating to the movements of themobile gateway and the positional relationships of the mobile gateway,the end node, and/or the data-receiving device associated with thebackhaul network, particularly with respect to affecting communicationstherebetween.

Thus, at step 308, the mobile gateway may transmit the data to one ormore upstream components of the system. For example, the mobile gatewaymay connect to the backhaul network and transmit the data received fromthe end node to an upstream component, such as the radio controllerand/or the application servers. For example, the data included in thepayloads of one or more uplink message packets received by the mobilegateway from the end node may be extracted from the one or more uplinkmessage packets and transmitted to the radio controller via the backhaulnetwork. Additionally or alternatively, the one or more uplink messagepackets may be transmitted from the mobile gateway to the radiocontroller and the radio controller may extract the data from thepayloads of the one or more uplink message packets. The one or moreuplink message packets may be supplemented with metadata describing thetransmission from the end node to the mobile gateway, such as a channelidentifier, a modulation identifier, and/or RSSI (Received SignalStrength Indicator). Since the mobile gateway may have already provideda MAC layer acknowledgement to the end node, there may be no need atthis point for the radio controller to direct the mobile gateway totransmit such an acknowledgement to the end node.

At step 310, the data may be transmitted to one or more applicationservers. For example, the radio controller may transmit the data fromthe end node to one or more application servers. The one or moreapplication servers may receive the data and perform various operationsrelating to the data according to the particular function implemented bythe one or more applications servers. For example, if the data from theend node comprises a home gas meter reading, the one or more applicationservers may process the gas meter reading and generate an electronicbilling statement based on the processed gas meter reading. The one ormore application servers may transmit the electronic billing statementto the home resident via email or may generate and serve a webpage withthe electronic billing statement.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example method 350 by which data from one or moreend nodes (e.g., the end nodes 110 of FIG. 1) may be transmitted via amobile gateway (e.g., the mobile gateway 102 of FIG. 1). At step 352,the mobile gateway may move or be caused to move to a first position.The first position may be within communicate range of the end node. Forexample, the mobile gateway may be disposed at a position that isoutside of the communication range of the end node and move or be causedto move to the first position that is within communication range of theend node. The first position may be a position at which the mobilegateway is not in communication with and/or not in communication rangeof a backhaul network (e.g., the backhaul network 112 of FIG. 1) orother upstream components.

The communication range of the end node may be defined by a radiotransmission range of a radio transceiver of the end node. Thecommunication range between the mobile gateway and the end node may beadditionally or alternatively defined by a radio transmission range of aradio transceiver of the mobile gateway.

At step 354, the mobile gateway may receive a data packet from the endnode. The data packet may comprise data that was collected or otherwisereceived or accessed by the end node. For example, the data packet maycomprise rain or soil nutrient data collected from an end node disposedin a lawn. As another example, the data packet may comprise datarepresenting gas usage that is collected by an end node operating inconnection with a gas meter at the residence. The data packet receivedfrom the end node may comprise an uplink message packet, as described ingreater detail herein.

Responsive to receiving the data packet from the end node, the mobilegateway may transmit a MAC layer acknowledgement back to the end node.The MAC layer acknowledgement may serve to notify the end node that thedata packet was successfully received by the mobile gateway. The MAClayer acknowledgment may be part of a downlink message packet, asdescribed in greater detail herein. Additionally or alternatively, themobile gateway may transmit an application layer acknowledgement to theend node. The application layer acknowledgement may indicate that theapplication servers received data previously transmitted from the endnode.

At step 356, the mobile gateway may move or be caused to move to asecond position (e.g., different from the first position) at which themobile gateway is able to communicate with the backhaul network. Forexample, the mobile gateway may be disposed at another position and moveor be caused to move to the second position. The another position may bea position at which the mobile gateway is not able to communicate withthe backhaul network. As an example, the mobile gateway may move or becaused to move to the second position at which the mobile gateway iswithin communication range with respect to radio transceiver(s) of themobile gateway and/or the backhaul network (e.g., the data-receivingdevice, such as the station 220 of FIG. 2). The second position may be aposition at which the mobile gateway is not within communication rangeof the end node from which it received a data packet.

The backhaul network may comprise a cellular network. Thus, the secondposition may be a position within communication range of a cellular basestation of the cellular network or associated with the cellular network.As another example, the backhaul network may comprise a Wi-Fi network.Thus, the second position may be a position within communication rangeof a Wi-Fi access point, which may be part of the backhaul network ormay be associated with the backhaul network. The backhaul network maycomprise a wired network, such as an Ethernet network. Accordingly, thesecond position may be a position at which the mobile gateway mayestablish a wired connection with the backhaul network (e.g., “pluginto” the wired network).

At step 358, the mobile gateway may be caused to connect to the backhaulnetwork. For example, the mobile gateway may connect to the backhaulnetwork via the data-receiving device (e.g., a wireless access point orcellular network base station). The mobile gateway may connect or becaused to connect to the backhaul network while the mobile gateway is atthe second position. The mobile gateway may connect or be caused toconnect to the backhaul network according to one or more of theaforementioned communication interfaces to the backhaul network. Themobile gateway may connect to the backhaul network while the mobilenetwork is in communication range of the backhaul network, whetherdisposed at the second position or not.

At step 360, the mobile gateway may transmit the data packet to anupstream computing device via the backhaul network. The mobile gatewaymay transmit the data packet to an upstream computing device by virtueof the connection established with the backhaul network in step 358. Theupstream computing device may comprise the radio controller and/or oneor more of the application servers.

FIG. 4 illustrates a temporal data flow diagram 400 progressingaccording to a Time (t), indicated by the downward pointing arrow to theleft of the figure. Specifically, the data flow diagram 400 illustratesan example sequential flow of various types of data between an end node410, a mobile gateway 402, and a backhaul network 412, as well as thosecomponents upstream from the backhaul network 412, including a radiocontroller (not shown) and an application server (not shown). The endnode 410, the mobile gateway 402, the backhaul network 412, the radiocontroller, and the application server each may be similar in someaspects to the end node 110, the mobile gateway 102, the backhaulnetwork 112, the radio controller 106, and the application server 108 ofFIG. 1, respectively.

Each row of the data flow diagram 400 represents the relative positionsof the components and corresponding data exchanges during a period oftime, indicated by times t0-t8. It will be recalled that the mobilegateway 402 may move to a position in which the mobile gateway 402 andthe end node 410 are within the respective communication ranges of oneanother, thereby allowing communications therebetween. Similarly, themobile gateway 402 may move to another position in which the mobilegateway 402 may connect to the backhaul network 412 and communicate, viathe backhaul network 412, with upstream components, such as the radiocontroller and the application server. For example and as illustrated inFIG. 2, the mobile gateway 402 may move to a position in which themobile gateway 402 and a station (e.g., the station 220 of FIG. 2) orother data-receiving device may communicate with one another. Thestation may enable communication over the backhaul network 412. Thestation may be a component of the backhaul network 412 or may enableconnection to and communication via the backhaul network while not beinga component of the backhaul network 412 itself. It will be understoodthat the representations of the backhaul network 412 in FIG. 2 andassociated data exchanges may (but not necessarily) refer to thisstation and associated data exchanges involving the station.

The components that are in communication with one another (e.g., withincommunication range of one another) are indicated by the darkenedcolorations of those components in the data flow diagram 400. The shiftsto and from the darkened colorations may be indicative of the mobilegateway 402 moving into and out of communication range of thatcomponent.

Beginning at time to, the mobile gateway 402 is in communication withneither the end node 410 nor the backhaul network 412. For the purposesof this example, the end node 410 is unable to independently connect tothe backhaul network 412, nor are there other gateways that may enablesuch a connection.

At time t1, the mobile gateway 402 and the end node 410 are incommunication with one another, as indicated by the darkened colorationsof the representations in the data flow diagram 400. For example, themobile gateway 402 may move into sufficient proximity to the end node410 to cause overlap of their respective communication ranges. The endnode 410 may thereby transmit data (A) 420 to the mobile gateway 402.For example, the data (A) may be transmitted as part of an uplinkmessage packet, particularly as the payload, or portion thereof, of theuplink message packet. The data (A) 420 may comprise data collected bythe end node 410.

At time t2, the mobile gateway 402 is still in communication with theend node 410. The mobile gateway 402 may have received the data (A) 420from the end node 410. Subsequently, the mobile gateway 402 may transmita MAC layer acknowledgement (A) 422 to the end node 410 to indicate thatthe mobile gateway 402 successfully received the data (A) 420 from theend node 410. The designation of (A) may indicate that the communicationdesignated as such are associated with the data (A) 420. As will bedescribed below, a similar designation of (B) will be used inassociation with the data (B) 428.

At time t3, the mobile gateway 402 is in communication with the backhaulnetwork 412 (and also the radio controller and application server viathat connection). For example, the mobile gateway 402 may have moved toa position in which the station or other data-receiving deviceassociated with the backhaul network 412 and the mobile gateway 402 arein communication range of one another. It will be recalled that thecommunication between the backhaul network 412 and the mobile gateway402 is not limited to wireless communication but also may comprise wiredcommunication. The mobile gateway 402 may transmit the data (A) 424 (thesame as or derived from the data (A) 420 received from the end node 410)to the backhaul network 412 and upstream components. For example, thedata (A) 424 may be transmitted to the application server via thebackhaul network and/or radio controller. The application server maythereby receive the data (A) 424.

At time t4, the mobile gateway 402, still in communication with thebackhaul network 412, may receive an application layer acknowledgement(A) 426 via the backhaul network 412. For example, the application layeracknowledgement (A) 426 may have been initially generated by theapplication server in response to the application server receiving thedata (A) 424. The application layer acknowledgement (A) 426 may indicatethat the application server successfully received the data (A) 424.

At time t5, the mobile gateway 402 is again in communication with theend node 410. For example, the mobile gateway 402 may have moved to aposition with sufficient proximity to the end node 410 to enable suchcommunication. Now in communication with the end node 410, the end node410 may transmit data (B) 428 to the mobile gateway 402. The data (B)428 may comprise data collected by the end node 410, such as thatcollected by end node 410 during the time since the last data exchangewith the mobile gateway 402. The data (B) 428 may be communicated aspart of an uplink message packet, such as the payload, or portionthereof, of the uplink message packet.

At time t6, the mobile gateway 402 may transmit a MAC layeracknowledgement (B) 430 in response to receiving the data (B) 428 fromthe end node 410. The MAC layer acknowledgement (B) 430 may indicatethat the mobile gateway 402 successfully received the data (B) 428.

At time t7, the mobile gateway 402 may transmit the application layeracknowledgement (A) 432 to the end node 410. The application layeracknowledgement (A) 432 was previously received by the mobile gateway402 from the application server via the backhaul network 412. Theapplication layer acknowledgement (A) 432 may indicate that the data (A)that was initially transmitted by the end node 410 at time t1 wassuccessfully received by the application server. It will be noted thatthese actions associated with time t7 may have been performed before theactions associated with one or both of times t5 and t6.

At time t8, the mobile gateway 402 is in communication with the backhaulnetwork 412. The mobile gateway 402 may transmit the data (B) 434 toupstream components via the backhaul network 412. The processillustrated in the data flow diagram 400 or variants thereof may beperformed over subsequent iterations, as needed.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method 500 by which communication betweenan end node (e.g. the end nodes 110 of FIG. 1) and a mobile gateway(e.g., the mobile gateway 102 of FIG. 1) may be effectuated. At step502, schedule information may be transmitted to the end node (e.g., theend node 110 a of FIG. 1), which may be remotely located and not withinrange of any fixed gateways (e.g., the fixed gateway 104 of FIG. 1). Forexample, the schedule information may be transmitted to the end node bythe mobile gateway. The end node may thus receive the scheduleinformation from the mobile gateway. The schedule information may betransmitted from the mobile gateway to the end node during acommunication therebetween that occurred previous to the presentcommunication. In some cases, the schedule information may be receivedby the end node from a source other than the mobile gateway. Forexample, the end node may be pre-programmed with the scheduleinformation before the end node is deployed to its present location. Asanother example, the end node may receive the schedule information viaone or more of the fixed gateways before being deployed and while stillwithin communication range of the one or more fixed gateways.

The schedule information may represent a schedule according to which themobile gateway expects to be in communication range of the end node and,thus, able to receive data from the end node. For example, the scheduleinformation may represent one or more times at which it is expected thatthe mobile gateway will be driven or flown in sufficient proximity tothe end node. The times included in the schedule information and atwhich the mobile gateway is expected to be in communication range of theend node may be weighted according to a likelihood that the mobilegateway will be within communication range. For example, the scheduleinformation may indicate that the mobile gateway has a 80% chance ofbeing within communication range of the end node at a first time pointor time interval. The schedule information may further indicate that themobile gateway has a 60% chance of being within communication range ofthe end node at a second time point or time interval.

At step 504, the mobile gateway may move to a position at which it maycommunicate with the end node. This may comprise, for example, themobile gateway moving within communication range of the end node. Forexample, the mobile gateway may move to a position at which reciprocalradio communication may be effectuated between the mobile gateway andthe end node.

At step 506, the end node may be operated, based on the scheduleinformation, so as to enable the end node to receive a communication.For example, the end node may open one or more scheduled receive windowsduring which the end node is enabled to communicate with the mobilegateway. That is, while outside the scheduled receive window(s), the endnode may operate such that it is unable to communicate with the mobilegateway. While during the scheduled receive window(s), the end node mayoperate such that it is enabled to communicate (e.g., receivecommunications) with the mobile gateway. For example, the radiotransceiver of the end node may be transitioned from an “off” or “sleep”mode to an “on” or “active” mode when the scheduled receive window(s)commence.

The scheduled receive window(s) opened by the end node may be determinedby the end node according to the schedule information. For example, thescheduled receive window(s) may be determined according to the weightedtime intervals included in the schedule information and indicating thelikelihoods of the mobile gateway being in communication range with theend node during respective time intervals. For example, if the scheduleinformation indicates that a first time interval is associated with an80% likelihood of the mobile gateway being in communication range andthat a second time interval is associated with a 60% likelihood of themobile gateway being in communication range, the end node may determinethat the scheduled receive window opened by the end node may correspondwith the first time interval since it is more likely that the mobilegateway will be in communication range at that time.

The scheduled receive window(s) opened by the end node may be determinedadditionally or alternatively based on other factors. As one example,the determination of the scheduled receive window(s) may be based on theamount of time since the end node last transmitted data upstream. Forinstance, the greater the amount of time, a sooner scheduled receivewindow may be tend to be determined rather than a later receive window.As another example, the end node may be configured to track the rate atwhich the end node collects and stores data and may be configured with atarget data amount at which it is preferred that the end node transmitsupstream. In other words, it may be undesirable for reasons ofefficiency to transmit data to the mobile gateway before a certainamount of data is collected and accumulated. Likewise, it may beundesirable to wait too long before the data is transmitted to themobile gateway due to limited storage space on the end node. Therefore,the determination of the scheduled receive window(s) may be based on anestimated rate at which the end node collects data and/or apre-determined amount of data (or range thereof) at which it isdesirable to transmit data to the mobile gateway.

At step 508, a beacon message may be transmitted to the end node. Forexample, the mobile gateway may transmit a beacon message to the endnode, preferably during the scheduled receive window(s) opened by theend node and during which the end node is operable to receive such atransmission. The beacon message may serve to notify the end node thatthe mobile gateway is within communication range of the end node andable to receive a transmission from the end node. The end node may usethe reception parameters of the beacon to determine or estimate the linkquality of the communication path between the end node and the mobilegateway. The end node may use the reception parameters and/or linkquality to determine the transmission parameters according to which theend node may transmit data to the mobile gateway. For example,transmission parameters may comprise the modulation and/or the power ofthe transmission.

At step 510, data may be received from the end node. For example,responsive to receiving the beacon message from the mobile gateway, theend node may transmit data to the mobile gateway and the mobile gatewaymay receive the data from the end node. The data may be the datacollected by the end node and intended to be transmitted to upstreamcomponents, such as the application servers. Further, the data may beincluded in the payload of an uplink message packet, as described above.Responsive to receiving the data (e.g., the uplink message packet) fromthe end node, the mobile gateway may transmit a MAC layeracknowledgement to the end node indicating that the mobile gatewaysuccessfully received the data.

In an example implementation using spread spectrum modulation toeffectuate communication between the end node and the mobile gateway,instead of transmitting the entirety of the uplink message packet at asingle, constant spreading factor, the end node instead may transmit thepreamble at a higher spreading factor and transmit the payload at alower spreading factor. Since the preamble is transmitted at the higherspreading factor, that transmission has a larger range than thetransmission of the payload at the lower spreading factor. If the mobilegateway receives both the preamble and the payload, the mobile gatewaymay send back a MAC layer acknowledgement to the end node. If the mobilegateway receives the preamble but not the payload during apre-determined time period after receiving the preamble, the mobilegateway may instead transmit a negative MAC layer acknowledgement to theend node indicating that the mobile gateway only received the preambleand not the payload. If the preamble from the end node does not identifythe particular end node (i.e., the mobile gateway does not “know” whichend node sent the preamble), the mobile gateway may broadcast a messageindicating that the mobile gateway did not receive the payloadcorresponding to the received preamble. The broadcast message maycomprise timing information reflecting a time when the preamble wasreceived. The broadcast message may comprise information requesting thatend nodes receiving the broadcast message should attempt to resend thepreamble and/or payload, particularly the preamble and/or payloadpreviously attempted to be transmitted at the time reflecting in thetiming information.

Responsive to receipt of the negative acknowledgement (or broadcastmessage, as the case may be), the end node may attempt to resend thepreamble and/or the payload with an adjusted spreading factor for atleast the payload. For example, the end node may resend the payload witha spreading factor that is higher than the spreading factor used in theprevious transmission for the payload. As another example, the end nodemay resend the payload with a spreading factor equal to the higherspreading factor used to initially or previously transmit the preamble.As yet another example, the end node may resend the payload with a morerobust modulation than that in the previous transmission of the payload.

Further, upon completion of the exchange of data between the end nodeand the mobile gateway, the mobile gateway may move into a position suchthat the mobile gateway may establish a connection with the backhaulnetwork and the radio controller. The mobile gateway may transmit thedata to the radio controller, which then may relay the data to one ormore application servers.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method 600 of facilitating communication between anend node (e.g., the end node 110 of FIG. 1) and one or more mobilegateways (e.g., the mobile gateway 102 of FIG. 1) and one or more fixedgateways (e.g., the fixed gateways 104 of FIG. 1). For example, themethod 600 may be implemented in a scenario in which the end node (suchas the end node 110 b of FIG. 1) potentially may be within range of bothone or more mobile gateways and one or more fixed gateways. This may beafter a mobile gateway has moved within communication range of the endnode and thus potentially may perform one or more communications withthe end node. In such a scenario, it is desirable that communicationwith the end node be coordinated so that acknowledgements (e.g., MAClayer acknowledgements) from different gateways are not returned to theend node during the same time interval, which may cause interferencewith one another. It is noted that the acknowledgements provided by thefixed gateways are typically coordinated by the radio controller.However, since the mobile gateway may not be connected to the backhaulnetwork and the radio controller while the mobile gateway iscommunicating with the end node, the mobile gateway may not be able toavail itself of this function of the radio controller.

Additionally or alternatively, the method 600 may be implemented in asame or similar manner to facilitate communication between an end nodeand two or more mobile gateways (e.g., without the involvement of anyfixed gateways). For example, the method 600 may be implemented if afirst mobile gateway is within range of an end node and a second mobilegateway (or more mobile gateways) is potentially also within range ofend node. The method 600 may prevent the first mobile gateway and thesecond mobile gateway from both transmitting an acknowledgement to theend node during the same time interval (e.g., a receive window of theend node).

At step 602, it may be determined whether the end node is withincommunication range of one or more gateways beyond the initial firstmobile gateway. For example, the first mobile gateway may determine ifthe end node is within range of one or more other mobile gateways and/orone or more fixed gateways. This determination may be performedaccording to various techniques.

As one example of determining if the end node is within range ofadditional gateways beyond the first mobile gateway, the first mobilegateway may broadcast a gateway detection packet, such as via radiotransmission. If other mobile gateways or fixed gateways are withinsufficient proximity to the broadcasting first mobile gateway, the othermobile gateways or fixed gateways may receive the gateway detectionpacket. Responsive to receiving the gateway detection packet, the othermobile gateways or fixed gateways may transmit a return packet back tothe first mobile gateway. The return packet may comprise informationabout the gateway from which it was sent, such as the gateway's location(e.g., GPS coordinates), the gateway's transmission power level, and/orthe radio frequencies supported by the gateway. Based on the returnpacket, the first mobile gateway may determine the other gateway'seffective coverage area and therefore ascertain whether the end node iswithin communication range of that other gateway. The return packet mayindicate whether the other gateway, particularly in the case of a fixedgateway, has previously communicated with the end node. From this, itmay be inferred that the other gateway is within communication range ofthe end node.

As another example of a technique to determine if the end node is inrange of additional gateways, the first mobile gateway may be notifiedby the end node that the end node has communicated with other gatewaysrecently. For example, an uplink message packet sent from the end nodeto the first mobile gateway may comprise data indicating that the endnode has communicated with (and thus has been in communicative range of)other gateways. The uplink message packet may be one that wastransmitted to the first mobile gateway during a previous data exchangewith the end node. Or the uplink message packet may be an initialtransmission from the end node during a present data exchange betweenthe first mobile gateway and the end node. Thus, the uplink messagepacket comprising data indicating which, if any, other gateways the endnode has communicated with may be leveraged by the first mobile gatewayin determining if the mobile first gateway should return anacknowledgement to the end node or even continue with the data exchange.Such data may comprise information relating to those other gateways,including an identifier, location, a type of gateway (e.g., mobile orfixed), and/or operational attributes of those gateways (e.g.,transmission power, frequency support, etc.). Such data further maycomprise the times of the communications with the other gateways or theelapsed times since the communications with the other gateways. Thus,the first mobile gateway may determine if the end node is in range ofother gateways based on the data previously transmitted from the endnode indicating which, if any, other gateways the end node has been incommunication with.

The determination by the first mobile gateway that the end node iswithin communication range of other gateways may be communicated to theend node so that the end node may interact with the first mobile gatewayaccordingly during a data exchange therebetween. For example, the firstmobile gateway may transmit data indicative of this determination alongwith or as part of the beacon message transmitted to the end node tonotify the end node that the first mobile gateway is withincommunication range of the end node, as described in step 508 of themethod 500 of FIG. 5.

If it is determined that the end node is within range of other gateways,the method 60 may proceed to step 64. Conversely, if it is determinedthat the end node is not within range of other gateways, the method 600may proceed to step 610.

At step 604, an operational parameter of a system (e.g., the system 100of FIG. 1) and/or component thereof, such as the end node and/or thefirst mobile gateway, may be adjusted based on the determination thatthe end node is within range of other gateways.

It will be recalled that the end node may open one or more receivewindows during which the end node may be enabled to receive data from agateway. For example, the data from the gateway may comprise a downlinkmessage packet. The one or more receive windows may be designated and/oropened responsive to the end node transmitting data, such as an uplinkmessage packet, to a gateway. Accordingly, in one example, to helpcoordinate acknowledgements between the end node and the gateways,including the first mobile gateway attempting to exchange data, the endnode may be configured to designate and/or open an additional receivewindow during which the first mobile gateway may exclusively transmitits acknowledgement. If the end node is otherwise configured to providefirst and second successive receive windows, the configuration of theend node may be adjusted to provide a third receive window following theexpiration of the second receive window. The third receive window may bedesignated for receiving the acknowledgement from the first mobilegateway, thereby avoiding interference with acknowledgements receivedfrom other gateways during the first and/or second receive windows. Theconfiguration of the first mobile gateway likewise may be adjusted sothat the first mobile gateway transmits its acknowledgement during thethird receive window. The third receive window (or other additionalreceive window) and/or time interval thereof may be indicated to thefirst mobile gateway via the uplink message packet initially transmittedto the first mobile gateway so that the first mobile gateway is enabledto transmit the acknowledgement (e.g., the MAC layer acknowledgment)during the third receive window.

In another example, the configuration of the end node may be adjustedsuch that the end node may listen for the acknowledgement (e.g., the MAClayer acknowledgement) from the first mobile gateway on a designatedfrequency channel. The configuration of the first mobile gateway mayalso be adjusted so that the first mobile gateway may transmit theacknowledgement on the designated frequency channel. Further, theacknowledgement on the designated frequency channel may be transmittedand received during a designated receive window provided by the endnode. The acknowledgement on the designated frequency channel may betransmitted and received during a second receive window. Since theacknowledgement may be transmitted on a designated frequency channel,different than the frequency channels on which the other gateways maytransmit their acknowledgements, interference with acknowledgements fromother gateways may be avoided.

In yet another example, the first mobile gateway and the other gatewaysin communication range of the end node may communicate with one anotherto coordinate their respective acknowledgements of an uplink messagepacket sent from the end node. For example, the first mobile gateway andthe other gateways may communicate via radio transmission. Thecommunication between the first mobile gateway and the other gatewaysmay comprise an indication that the respective gateway is incommunication range of the end node and/or that the respective gatewayhas received an uplink message packet from the end node. Thecommunication between the first mobile gateway and the other gatewaysfurther may comprise an indication that the respective gateway intendsto transmit a MAC layer acknowledgement during a designated receivewindow provided by the end node. Thus, the other gateways may transmittheir respective acknowledgement during a receive window other than thedesignated received window. For example, the first mobile gateway maycommunicate to other gateways that the first mobile gateway intends totransmit its acknowledgement to the end node during a second receivewindow provided by the end node. Accordingly, the other gateways maytransmit their respective acknowledgements during a receive window otherthan the second receive window. The end node may likewise be configuredto listen for the acknowledgement from the mobile gateway during thedesignated receive window.

In another example, the end node may be configured to listen for theacknowledgement from the first mobile gateway during an initial receivewindow opened by the end node. For example, the end node may listen forthe acknowledgement from the first mobile gateway during a first receivewindow of two or more sequential receive windows. Since the first mobilegateway may be out of communication with the backhaul network and theradio controller while receiving the uplink message packet from the endnode and transmitting a responsive acknowledgement, the first mobilegateway does not need to wait for instructions from the radio controllerbefore transmitting the acknowledgement. Thus, the first mobile gatewaymay be configured to transmit the acknowledgement immediately (i.e.,during the first receive window) upon receiving the uplink messagepacket from the end node. The end node may include an indicator in theuplink message packet transmitted to the first mobile gatewayinstructing the mobile gateway to transmit the acknowledgement duringthe first receive window.

In a further example, the first mobile gateway may establishcommunication with one or more fixed gateways within communication rangewith the first mobile gateway and thereby communicate with the radiocontroller via the one or more fixed gateways. In this manner, the firstmobile gateway may be treated similarly as a fixed gateway withrespective to coordination of acknowledgements. For example, the endnode may transmit an uplink message packet which is received by thefirst mobile gateway and one or more fixed gateways. The first mobilegateway may transmit the uplink message packet via its connection withthe one or more fixed gateways to the radio controller. The fixedgateways may also transmit the uplink message packet received by thosefixed gateways to the radio controller. The radio controller may selectone gateway from the set of the first mobile gateway and the fixedgateways to transmit a MAC layer acknowledgement. The radio controllermay transmit instructions to the selected gateway and that gateway mayaccordingly transmit an acknowledgement to the end node.

At step 606, data, such as an uplink message packet, may be transmittedto the first mobile gateway. For example, the end node may transmit thedata to the first mobile gateway. The first mobile gateway mayaccordingly receive the data from the end node. It will be appreciatedthat step 604 and step 606 may be readily performed in any order. Thatis, the end node may sometimes transmit data to the first mobile gatewaybefore the operational aspect of the end node and/or the gateways isadjusted based on the determination that the end node is incommunication range of additional gateways other than the first mobilegateway.

At step 608, responsive to receiving the data (e.g., the uplink messagepacket) from the end node, a MAC layer acknowledgement may betransmitted to the end node according to the operational parameteradjusted in step 604. The acknowledgement may be transmitted to the endnode by the first mobile gateway, another mobile gateway, or one of thefixed gateways, depending on the particular adjustment to theoperational parameter.

For example, the end node may open an additional receive window and themobile gateway may transmit an acknowledgement to the end node duringthe additional receive window. The other gateways that received theuplink message packet from the end node may not transmit anacknowledgement during this additional receive window.

According to another example, the first mobile gateway may transmit theacknowledgement on a designated frequency channel. Likewise, the endnode may receive the acknowledgement on the designated frequencychannel. Further, the acknowledgement transmitted on the designatedfrequency channel may be transmitted to and received by the end nodeduring a designated receive window opened by the end node.

According to yet another example, one of the gateways (e.g., the firstmobile gateway, another mobile gateway, or one of the fixed gateways)may transmit an acknowledgement to the end node during a designatedreceive window based on a communication between the gateways indicatingthat the gateway intends to transmit the acknowledgement during thedesignated receive window. The other gateways may not transmit anacknowledgement during the designated receive window.

According to another example, the first mobile gateway may transmit aMAC layer acknowledgment to the end node during an initial receivewindow opened by the end node. For example, if the end node opens afirst receive window and a second window, the first mobile gateway maytransmit the acknowledgement during the first receive window.

According to a further example in which the first mobile gatewaycommunicates with the radio controller via a connection with one or morefixed gateways and the radio controller selects a gateway to provide anacknowledgement, the first mobile gateway may transmit anacknowledgement to the end node responsive to an instruction to do sofrom the radio controller.

As explained in greater detail herein, the data (e.g., the uplinkmessage packet) received from the end node may be transmitted toupstream components, such as the radio controller and/or the applicationservers. For example, if the first mobile gateway received the uplinkmessage packet from the end node, the first mobile gateway may move tore-establish connection with the backhaul network and thereby transmitthe uplink message packet (or data included therein) to the radiocontroller. The radio controller may transmit the uplink message packet(or data included therein) to one or more of the application servers.

If it is determined that the end node is not within communication rangeof gateways other than the first mobile gateway the method 600 mayproceed to step 610. At step 610, data, such as an uplink messagepacket, may be transmitted to the first mobile gateway. For example, theend node may transmit the data to the first mobile gateway. The firstmobile gateway may thereby receive the data from the end node.

At step 612, responsive to receiving the data from the end node, thefirst mobile gateway may transmit an acknowledgment to the end node thatthe first mobile gateway successfully received the data transmitted bythe end node. The acknowledgement may be in the form of or included witha downlink message packet. The downlink message packet may furthercomprise data from upstream components, such as data from theapplication servers. Multiple back and forth data transmittals andacknowledgments may be similarly performed between the end node and themobile gateway until all data intended for transmission is exchanged.

As explained in additional detail herein, the first mobile gateway maymove or be moved to a position at which it may connect to the backhaulnetwork. Via the backhaul network, the first mobile gateway may transmitthe data from the end node to the radio controller, which then may relaythe data to one or more application servers.

The methods and systems may be implemented on a computing device such asa computing device 701 (e.g., computer) as illustrated in FIG. 7 anddescribed below. By way of example, the mobile gateway 102, the fixedgateways 104, the radio controller 106, the application servers 108,and/or the end nodes 110 of FIG. 1 and/or the station 220 of FIG. 2 maybe a computing device as illustrated in FIG. 7. Similarly, the methodsand systems disclosed may utilize one or more computing device toperform one or more functions in one or more locations. FIG. 7 is ablock diagram illustrating an exemplary operating environment forperforming the disclosed methods. This exemplary operating environmentis only an example of an operating environment and is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality ofoperating environment architecture. Neither should the operatingenvironment be interpreted as having any dependency or requirementrelating to any one or combination of components illustrated in theexemplary operating environment.

The present methods and systems may be operational with numerous othergeneral purpose or special purpose computing system environments orconfigurations. Examples of well-known computing systems, environments,and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the systems andmethods comprise, but are not limited to, personal computers, servercomputers, laptop devices, and multiprocessor systems. Additionalexamples comprise set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics,network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computingenvironments that comprise any of the above systems or devices, and thelike.

The processing of the disclosed methods and systems may be performed bysoftware components. The disclosed systems and methods may be describedin the general context of computer-executable instructions, such asprogram modules, being executed by one or more computers or otherdevices. Generally, program modules comprise computer code, routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that performparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Thedisclosed methods may also be practiced in grid-based and distributedcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed computing environment, program modules may be located inboth local and remote computer storage media including memory storagedevices.

Further, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the systems andmethods disclosed herein may be implemented via a general-purposecomputing device in the form of a computing device 701. The componentsof the computing device 701 may comprise, but are not limited to, one ormore processors 703, a system memory 712, and a system bus 713 thatcouples various system components including the processor 703 to thesystem memory 712. In the case of multiple processors 703, the systemmay utilize parallel computing.

The system bus 713 represents one or more of several possible types ofbus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, aperipheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or localbus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, sucharchitectures may comprise an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, an Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, aVideo Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) bus, and a Peripheral Component Interconnects (PCI),a PCI-Express bus, a Personal Computer Memory Card Industry Association(PCMCIA), Universal Serial Bus (USB) and the like. The bus 713, and allbuses specified in this description may also be implemented over a wiredor wireless network connection and each of the subsystems, including theprocessor 703, a mass storage device 704, an operating system 705, aservice software 706, a service data 707, a network adapter 708, systemmemory 712, an Input/Output Interface 710, a display adapter 709, adisplay device 711, and a human machine interface 702, may be containedwithin one or more remote computing devices 714 a,b,c at physicallyseparate locations, connected through buses of this form, in effectimplementing a fully distributed system.

The computing device 701 typically comprises a variety of computerreadable media. Exemplary readable media may be any available media thatis accessible by the computing device 701 and comprises, for example andnot meant to be limiting, both volatile and non-volatile media,removable and non-removable media. The system memory 712 comprisescomputer readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as randomaccess memory (RAM), and/or non-volatile memory, such as read onlymemory (ROM). The system memory 712 typically contains data such asservice data 707 and/or program modules such as operating system 705 andservice software 706 that are immediately accessible to and/or arepresently operated on by the processor 703.

The computing device 701 may also comprise otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer storage media.By way of example, FIG. 7 illustrates a mass storage device 704 whichmay provide non-volatile storage of computer code, computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for thecomputing device 701. For example and not meant to be limiting, a massstorage device 704 may be a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk, aremovable optical disk, magnetic cassettes or other magnetic storagedevices, flash memory cards, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) orother optical storage, random access memories (RAM), read only memories(ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), andthe like.

Optionally, any number of program modules may be stored on the massstorage device 704, including by way of example, an operating system 705and service software 706. Each of the operating system 705 and servicesoftware 706 (or some combination thereof) may comprise elements of theprogramming and the service software 706. Service data 707 may also bestored on the mass storage device 704. Service data 707 may be stored inany of one or more databases known in the art. Examples of suchdatabases comprise, DB2®, Microsoft® Access, Microsoft® SQL Server,Oracle®, mySQL, PostgreSQL, and the like. The databases may becentralized or distributed across multiple systems.

The user may enter commands and information into the computing device701 via an input device (not shown). Examples of such input devicescomprise, but are not limited to, a keyboard, pointing device (e.g., a“mouse”), a microphone, a joystick, tactile input devices such asgloves, and other body coverings, and the like. These and other inputdevices may be connected to the processor 703 via a human machineinterface 702 that is coupled to the system bus 713, but may beconnected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallelport, game port, an IEEE 1394 Port (also known as a Firewire port), aserial port, or a universal serial bus (USB).

A display device 711 may also be connected to the system bus 713 via aninterface, such as a display adapter 709. It is contemplated that thecomputing device 701 may have more than one display adapter 709 and thecomputing device 701 may have more than one display device 711. Forexample, a display device may be a monitor, an LCD (Liquid CrystalDisplay), or a projector. In addition to the display device 711, otheroutput peripheral devices may comprise components such as speakers (notshown) and a printer (not shown) which may be connected to the computingdevice 701 via Input/Output Interface 710. Any step and/or result of themethods may be output in any form to an output device. Such output maybe any form of visual representation, including, but not limited to,textual, graphical, animation, audio, tactile, and the like. The display711 and computing device 701 may be part of one device, or separatedevices.

The computing device 701 may operate in a networked environment usinglogical connections to one or more remote computing devices 714 a,b,c.By way of example, a remote computing device may be a personal computer,portable computer, smartphone, a server, a router, a network computer, apeer device or other common network node, and so on. Logical connectionsbetween the computing device 701 and a remote computing device 714 a,b,cmay be made via a network 715, such as a local area network (LAN) and ageneral wide area network (WAN). Such network connections may be througha network adapter 708. A network adapter 708 may be implemented in bothwired and wireless environments. Such networking environments areconventional and commonplace in dwellings, offices, enterprise-widecomputer networks, intranets, and the Internet.

For purposes of illustration, application programs and other executableprogram components such as the operating system 705 are illustratedherein as discrete blocks, although it is recognized that such programsand components reside at various times in different storage componentsof the computing device 701, and are executed by the data processor(s)of the computer. An implementation of service software 706 may be storedon or transmitted across some form of computer readable media. Any ofthe disclosed methods may be performed by computer readable instructionsembodied on computer readable media. Computer readable media may be anyavailable media that may be accessed by a computer. By way of exampleand not meant to be limiting, computer readable media may comprise“computer storage media” and “communications media.” “Computer storagemedia” comprise volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removablemedia implemented in any methods or technology for storage ofinformation such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data. Exemplary computer storage mediacomprises, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory orother memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or otheroptical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which maybe used to store the desired information and which may be accessed by acomputer.

As used in the specification and the appended claims, the singular forms“a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. Ranges may be expressed herein as from “about” oneparticular value, and/or to “about” another particular value. When sucha range is expressed, another embodiment includes from the oneparticular value and/or to the other particular value. Similarly, whenvalues are expressed as approximations, by use of the antecedent“about,” it will be understood that the particular value forms anotherembodiment. It will be further understood that the endpoints of each ofthe ranges are significant both in relation to the other endpoint, andindependently of the other endpoint.

“Optional” or “optionally” means that the subsequently described eventor circumstance may or may not occur, and that the description includesinstances where said event or circumstance occurs and instances where itdoes not.

Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the word“comprise” and variations of the word, such as “comprising” and“comprises,” means “including but not limited to,” and is not intendedto exclude, for example, other components, integers or steps.“Exemplary” means “an example of” and is not intended to convey anindication of a preferred or ideal embodiment. “Such as” is not used ina restrictive sense, but for explanatory purposes.

Disclosed are components that may be used to perform the disclosedmethods and systems. These and other components are disclosed herein,and it is understood that when combinations, subsets, interactions,groups, etc. of these components are disclosed that while specificreference of each various individual and collective combinations andpermutation of these may not be explicitly disclosed, each isspecifically contemplated and described herein, for all methods andsystems. This applies to all aspects of this application including, butnot limited to, steps in disclosed methods. Thus, if there are a varietyof additional steps that may be performed it is understood that each ofthese additional steps may be performed with any specific embodiment orcombination of embodiments of the disclosed methods.

While the methods and systems have been described in connection withpreferred embodiments and specific examples, it is not intended that thescope be limited to the particular embodiments set forth, as theembodiments herein are intended in all respects to be illustrativerather than restrictive.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, it is in no way intended that anymethod set forth herein be construed as requiring that its steps beperformed in a specific order. Accordingly, where a method claim doesnot actually recite an order to be followed by its steps or it is nototherwise specifically stated in the claims or descriptions that thesteps are to be limited to a specific order, it is no way intended thatan order be inferred, in any respect. This holds for any possiblenon-express basis for interpretation, including: matters of logic withrespect to arrangement of steps or operational flow; plain meaningderived from grammatical organization or punctuation; the number or typeof embodiments described in the specification.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations may be made without departing from thescope or spirit. Other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice disclosedherein. It is intended that the specification and examples be consideredas exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit being indicated by thefollowing claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: moving a mobiledata-handling device to a first position that is within communicationrange of an end node of a network; receiving, by the mobiledata-handling device at the first position, a data packet from the endnode; moving the mobile data-handling device to a second position atwhich the mobile data-handling device is able to communicate with adata-receiving device associated with the network; transmitting, by themobile data-handling device, the data packet to the data-receivingdevice; receiving, by the mobile data-handling device and from thedata-receiving device, a first acknowledgement indicating that acomputing device associated with the network received the data packetvia the data-receiving device; and transmitting, by the mobiledata-handling device and to the end node, the first acknowledgement. 2.The method of claim 1, The method of claim 1, further comprising:transmitting, by the mobile data-handling device, a secondacknowledgement to the end node indicating that the mobile data-handlingdevice received the data packet.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein thesecond acknowledgement is a MAC layer acknowledgement and the firstacknowledgement is an application layer acknowledgement.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the data packet comprises data collected by the endnode.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data-receiving devicecomprises at least one of a wireless access point of a wireless computernetwork or a cellular base station of a cellular network.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the first position is a position at which the mobiledata-handling device is not in communication with the data-receivingdevice, and wherein the second position is outside the communicationrange of the end node.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the networkcomprises a low power wide area network.
 8. A method comprising:transmitting schedule information to an end node of a network, theschedule information indicative of a time period for a mobiledata-handling device to be within communication range of the end node;receiving, by the mobile data-handling device and from the end node, adata packet during the time period indicated in the scheduleinformation, wherein the mobile data-handling device receives the datapacket while at a first position in communication range of the end node;transmitting, by the mobile data-handling device and to a data-receivingdevice associated with the network, the data packet, wherein the mobiledata-handling device transmits the data packet while at a secondposition in communication range of the data-receiving device; receiving,by the mobile data-handling device, a first acknowledgment indicatingthat a computing device associated with the network received, via thedata-receiving device, the data packet; and transmitting, by the mobiledata-handling device and to the end node, the first acknowledgment. 9.The method of claim 8, further comprising: transmitting, by the mobiledata-handling device, a second acknowledgement to the end nodeindicating that the mobile data-handling device received the datapacket.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second acknowledgement isa MAC layer acknowledgement and the first acknowledgement is anapplication layer acknowledgement.
 11. The method of claim 8, whereinthe first position is a position at which the mobile data-handlingdevice is not in communication with the data-receiving device, andwherein the second position is outside the communication range of theend node.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the schedule informationcomprises a factor indicating a likelihood that the mobile data-handlingdevice will be within communication range of the end node during thetime period.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the firstacknowledgement is transmitted with data from the computing deviceassociated with the network.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein thenetwork comprises a low power wide area network.
 15. A methodcomprising: receiving, by an end node of a network, schedule informationindicative of a time period for a mobile data-handling device to bewithin communication range of the end node; transmitting, by the endnode, to the mobile data-handling device at a position withincommunication range of the end node, a data packet during the timeperiod indicated in the schedule information; receiving, by the end nodeand from the mobile data-handling device, a first acknowledgementindicating that the mobile data-handling device received the datapacket; and receiving, by the end node and from the mobile data-handlingdevice, a second acknowledgement, wherein the second acknowledgementindicates that the data packet was received, via a data-receiving deviceoutside of communication range of the end node and associated with thenetwork, by a computing device associated with the network.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the first acknowledgement is a MAC layeracknowledgement and the second acknowledgement is an application layeracknowledgement.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the position of themobile data-handling device within communication range of the end nodeis a position at which the mobile data-handling device is not incommunication with the data-receiving device.
 18. The method of claim15, wherein the second acknowledgement is transmitted with data from thecomputing device associated with the network.
 19. The method of claim15, wherein the schedule information comprises a factor indicating alikelihood that the mobile data-handling device will be withincommunication range of the end node during the time period.
 20. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the network comprises a low power wide areanetwork.